One Human Race

By Jeff McGee

God's intention was humans would never be divided by race. Let's be clear: God wants Christians to unite; Satan wants Christians to divide. Racial disunity is alive and well among Christians, and unfortunately, the world is watching. In One Human Race, Dr. Jeff McGee lays out two parts: the first part of the book gives a biblical and historical

• Language: English
• Publisher: BMcHAWK TALKS
• Release date: Nov 17, 2020
• ISBN: 9781953315052

Jeff McGee

Dr. Jeff McGee is a published author and thought leader in using an asset-based approach to understand cross-cultural and leadership competencies. He is passionate about equipping leaders with strategies and approaches to lead tomorrow's organizations. He has studied and witnessed barriers between diverse groups where issues of trust, decision-making, and roles are misunderstood. Dr. McGee has successfully supported many organizations through trainings/consultations that have positively impacted organizational culture and relationship building efforts within Christian and secular spaces. His interactive approach to engagement empowers leaders to think differently and challenge norms. Dr. McGee has over ten years of experience as a speaker, educator, and trainer for K-12 schools, higher education institutions, businesses, city and county governments, and nonprofit organizations including churches. His continued work and research seek to dismantle cross-cultural and leadership misunderstandings through education, practice, and policy making. Dr. McGee serves on several board of trustees and community groups. He holds a Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership from Geneva College and a Doctorate in Education in Educational Leadership from Northern Arizona University.

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BMcTALKS Press

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Copyright © 2020 by Jeff McGee, Ed.D. All rights reserved.

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Volume pricing is available to bulk orders placed by corporations, associations, and others. For details, please contact BMcTALKS Press at [e-mail]

ESV, The Holy Bible, English Standard Version is adapted from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. All rights reserved.

KJV, King James Version. Public domain.

NASB, New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved.

NIV, Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

NLT, Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Small references from my dissertation were used in this book. See McGee, D. J. (2018). Cross-Cultural Dynamics Among White-led Nonprofit Organizations in South Phoenix Communities of Color. Doctoral dissertation. Northern Arizona University.

FIRST EDITION

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020918242

Paperback: 978-1-953315-04-5

eBook: 978-1-953315-05-2

Cover and interior design by Medlar Publishing Solutions Pvt Ltd., India.

Printed in the United States of America.

DEDICATION

To my parents who supported me down through the years in my goal of achieving my purpose.

To my son who motivates me to keep working hard and doing more.

To every person who has fought and/or died in their quests for all humanity to be treated equally and fairly.

To you, the reader, for whom I desire to come to fully know and realize Christ’s love for you and all humanity regardless of age, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national orientation, and ability.

To all who have experienced and fell victim to the sin of racism and oppression.

To all humanity being united as one race and loving our neighbors as Christ has commanded.

ONE HUMAN RACE

FIVE STAGES TO EMPOWERING

TRANSFORMATIVE CHANGE

The 2020 protests sparked by the murder of George Floyd and others in police custody have brought the issue of racism in the United States front and center. You’d think that of all groups in the United States that Christian churches, even those that are predominantly white, with their message of Jesus Christ’s love for his flock, would be free of racism. As a black man who works with pastors, Christian leaders, and their staff in all sectors, I can attest that this is simply not the case, despite the biblical injunction to do so.

In the New Testament, Jesus proclaims that loving your neighbor is the second greatest commandment. If this commandment is so important—and almost every Christian knows this—then why is it so hard for us to obey? The church as a whole has struggled, whether consciously or unconsciously, throughout the years with this thing called race and ethnicity.

From a kingdom-of-God perspective, as Christians, we should do better. We must do better. We aren’t going to do better, however, if we don’t change our ways. Based on my experiences working in Christian nonprofits, conducting hundreds of hours of consulting and trainings, and my academic studies, I’ve developed practical methods to promote biblically based cross-cultural work and to overcome racism. But first, we need to understand how we got here.

My fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, there is no division in the kingdom of God when it comes to race, but somehow the church has managed to continually use it to promote division. In 1 Corinthians 1:10 (NIV), it reads, "I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought" (emphasis added). The question I want to propose is this.

Does the world hate the church because it stands against the sin of racism, or has the church joined the world in its ideologies of racism here in the United States?

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface

PART ONE

How Did We Get Here?

The History of Christian Racism in the United States

CHAPTER 1

Race and Ethnicity: A Biblical Perspective

CHAPTER 2

Race and the Concept of Race

CHAPTER 3

From Race to Racism

PART TWO

How Systemic Racism Works in Practice

CHAPTER 4

My Story: A Personal Perspective

PART THREE

How the Christian Church Can Address Racism

and Learn to Work Across Cultures

CHAPTER 5

The Challenge of Cross-Cultural Interactions

CHAPTER 6

Building Cross-Cultural Collaboration

References

PREFACE

In August 2009, my understanding of the church changed forever. I had recently rededicated my life back to Jesus Christ after walking away from the faith for many years. My experience, while shocking, led me to find my purpose in life and led me on a journey that I have passionately pursued ever since.

I had never been to Fresno, California, and was excited to visit some friends there. I was simply passing through, so my stay was brief. I happened to arrive in the city about the time their church was moving the service from a building to an outdoor park in a local neighborhood. As it was explained to me, the neighborhood was an under-resourced and underserved community. I had never been to something like this before, but because I was in town, I gladly went to volunteer at the church service that warm, summer morning. I loved the idea of taking the gospel to the people, as opposed to waiting for the people to come to the church. Not only was the church taking the gospel message to the people, it also was serving free meals, renting bouncy houses, and providing many other activities for the kids, including a small petting zoo.

I had arrived with my friends with the goal of helping serve from the beginning to the end of the event. There were many people from the neighborhood who came out that day. They arrived in waves, it seemed. People sat at tables, on lawn chairs, and on the grass, and some leaned against large, shady trees. It was a beautiful scene to see the choir leading the people in worship, the pastor sharing the gospel message, and the people responding by dedicating their lives to Jesus Christ. Afterwards, everyone shared a meal together while the kids enjoyed the great activities. It was during this time that I met Albert, a Mexican-American man. He was a member of the multicultural church and was grateful that his church was doing this service in the neighborhood. He said to me that he wouldn’t have missed this event for anything in the world. As we talked, he then shared his story with me that forever changed my life.

He began by saying that he hadn’t been a Christian all his life. He used to live in the streets and was homeless for many years. He lost his job, wife, and children due to his addiction to crack cocaine. I was an addict, he said with a serious look on his face. I got caught up with drugs and didn’t see it coming. He went on to say that it wasn’t until he hit rock bottom and almost took his own life that he sought help. I was not prepared for what he said next. He stated, I went to several churches to seek help and was turned away! My jaw dropped!

I asked him to repeat what he said in hopes that I heard him wrong. He repeated what he originally said. I asked him to please elaborate on what happened. He gladly shared with me that he went to several churches and was told, You have to become a member for us to help you, and You are not dressed appropriately to attend the service, and You have to wear a suit and tie, and You need to be off drugs before we can help you, and the one that really affected me You need to find a church with people of your own race.

I stood there in complete and utter shock! At first, part of me didn’t believe him, but there was something about him. His gentle smile and sincere demeanor were calming and peaceful. His polite manners and humble spirit showed he was present to volunteer and serve others. I could tell that God was with him. I didn’t know what to say. I was speechless. My heart was heavy. My heart was hurting. Before I knew it, tears began to flow down my face. I never thought in a million years that churches in America would reject people from hearing the gospel; reject those seeking help, those who wanted to worship, and those who wanted to live in community with other believers.

Albert went on to say that it wasn’t until he found his current church that he received the help he needed, which led to being drug free and a believer in Jesus Christ. Because of the support his church gave him, he volunteers as much time as he can within the outreach ministry and enjoys sharing his story with everyone in hopes they find Jesus also.

On my flight back to the East Coast, I could not get his story out of my head. Tears would flow down my face every time I thought of him, but more tragically, when I thought of the state of the church and what it means to be a follower of Christ. Even when I shared his story with my friends and family months and years later, I found myself getting emotional about the thought of what he went through. I became angry at the church.

Is this an accurate depiction of what the church has become in America? Is it like this abroad? Is it more a gathering of followers of Christ in a social club than a place of worship, teaching, and building true community? Have church parishioners become so privileged that they dictate who can come in and who cannot? Questions regarding what it means to be a follower of Christ started circulating through my mind. I questioned the church and, quite honestly, I still question the church. This experience began my journey to find truth and discover the barriers that we need to overcome as the body of Christ.

Since my experience in 2009, I have conducted many years of research, including historical, content analysis, theoretical, and empirical, to better understand the past that has directly influenced and affected our present. Within the context of the United States (including the church), the concept of race is by far the biggest historical and present-day contributor to division compared with any other category that causes division. Because of this fact, I will discuss race as an example of culture, but I will reference the term culture throughout. I conceptualize the term culture as a broader concept that includes race